Friday, April 11, 2008
Whatever It Is, You Can Get It on eBay.
The fat lady of justice has finally sung for Frank Quattrone. A federal judge yesterday officially dismissed criminal charges against the defrocked Silicon Valley financier, clearing him of charges that he obstructed an investigation into Credit Suisse First Boston’s practice of steering shares of hot IPOs to favored investment-banking clients. “Today, the legal system has rendered its final verdict: I am innocent,” Quattrone said. “The opera is over.”
If Quattrone’s lengthy legal ordeal truly was an opera, then it makes Richard Wagner’s interminable Ring Cycle look short by comparison. Accused of ordering the destruction of documents while his firm was under subpoena, Quattrone was charged with witness tampering and obstruction of justice in April 2003. His first trial ended in a hung jury in October 2003. He was convicted in a retrial in May 2004 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. But that verdict was overturned last year. Quattrone managed to avoid a third trial by reaching a deferred-prosecution agreement with prosecutors. Now, having met its terms, his four-year battle with the federal justice system is officially over.
So what’s next for the investment legend? Back to business, most likely. Said Bill Burnham, a venture capitalist who once worked with Quattrone: “Investment bankers want him to start a private equity firm and private equity investors want him to start an investment bank because neither group wants to compete head-on with Frank. Who knows, maybe he will disappoint them all and do both.”
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Fill the fun bar all the way to the top and keep it there for a few seconds to have a successful date.
… in 2 Minutes
3. Among those earning 10-figure incomes, Mr. Soros’s total annual compensation is greater than Mr. Falcone’s. Mr. Falcone’s is greater than Mr. Griffin’s. Mr. Griffin’s is smaller than Mr. Soros’s, and Mr. Paulson’s is greater than Mr. Soros’s. In descending order, list the men by the respective hotness of their trophy wives.
Dear Mr. Prince: It’s been three days since you delivered your keynote address, “When Doves Cry,” to our organization, the American Ornithological Society.
I’ll have the “J&J fresh intestine pot,” a side of “cowboy leg” and the “carbon burns black bowel” to go, please.
Starring Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell
… in CSS
Lenovo has its way with Apple’s MacBook Air ads
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where my cemetery plot is, and what my lousy adulthood was like …
googletimewarner.com? googlepoo.com?